Long before I became interested in photography, I was interested in the image itself. I’ve always been drawn to landscapes, views and atmosphere, to the point where friends used to joke that I loved a postcard. That fascination was there well before carrying a camera everywhere became commonplace.
I bought my first DSLR, a second-hand Canon 400D, around eighteen years ago, but if I’m honest, I never really got on with it. As phone cameras improved, they became the easier option and for quite a few years that was enough. I could capture the places I visited without carrying a camera or really having to think about how the image was made.
Eventually, though, it stopped being enough. The phone could record the view, but it couldn’t always capture the detail, depth or atmosphere that had made me want to photograph it in the first place. I picked up the camera again and started learning how to use it properly.
From there it became something of a progression. The more I learned, the more I wanted to try; the more I tried, the more I realised what was possible. An older DSLR eventually became a newer one, then a mirrorless camera, followed by better lenses and somewhere along the way photography changed from recording where I’d been into trying to create the image I had in my head.
It fitted naturally with something that was already a big part of my life. I’ve always loved hiking and being outdoors, and living in South Wales meant I had an extraordinary landscape on my doorstep. Photography gave me another reason to explore it, but the landscape itself was always the reason I wanted to be there.
That is probably still the part of photography I enjoy most. Wales can look completely different from one day to the next, and sometimes from one hour to the next. The same mountain or stretch of moorland can be transformed by mist, snow, changing light or a break in the clouds. I’m particularly drawn to those changing conditions and the way cloud, light and weather can completely change the character of a landscape, sometimes creating an atmosphere that may only last for a few minutes. It is less about showing what a place looks like and more about trying to capture what it felt like to be there.
That interest also extends to night-sky photography. Living close to some of the darkest skies in Wales gives me the opportunity to see familiar landscapes in a completely different way after sunset. It is a very different kind of photography, but the attraction is much the same… landscape, light and atmosphere.
I still don’t really think of photography as having a final destination. I’m constantly learning, trying different techniques and finding new ways of looking at places I may have passed dozens of times before. Sometimes that means travelling further afield, but just as often it means returning to the mountains, moors and woodlands close to home and waiting to see what the Welsh weather decides to do.
For a long time I was taking photographs because I enjoyed doing it. I began sharing more of my work on social media and, somewhat unexpectedly, people started asking whether they could buy prints for their walls. I hadn’t really considered selling my photography, but as the requests increased it became difficult to keep track of everything individually. That eventually led me to create my own website, where I could put my work in one place and make prints available properly.
Ultimately, the thing that first interested me hasn’t really changed. I still love a good view. The difference now is that rather than just admiring it, I have a camera with me and the challenge of trying to turn what I see and what I feel when I’m there into a photograph.
My photography, including a selection of landscape prints is available through Morgs Photography at morgsphotography.com. I also share more of my photography and adventures on Facebook at Simon Morgan.
